He sat in his recliner watching his wife sleep on the couch. Her mouth was wide open and her snoring rattled the blinds. He even thought he saw drool. If he had his phone, he would have taken a picture. “Nah,” he thought. Lord knows she could find a plethora of ways to embarrass him. They were nestled in the den watching the big game — It was the third quarter and his team was behind by three points. Out of nervousness, he began to eat yet another chicken wing.
But his eyes couldn’t keep from going back to his wife. They were in the third quarter of their marriage, too. (It was definitely in the second half.) The kids were now grown-up enough to be out of the house with friends during the big game. So it was just them in the dark room in the empty house. The TV’s flickering picture illuminated her pale skin with a blue light, shaving years off her face.
They were teammates. And like a team, they had gone through good and bad together. There were the moments it seemed like their marriage was against their own goal line. But he knew that they were like the defense that would bend but not break. Back them up against the goal line and they’d come together and fight. They had had several goal-line stands. Cancer. Trust. Anger. Careers. Trouble with their kids.
For better or worse.
The TV erupted in joy. His team scored a touchdown — and he had the urge to jump up and yell. But he looked over at his snoring wife and decided he’d just enjoy the moment to himself. A younger version of him would have woken her up just to be a jerk. The younger version of himself wasn’t a very good team player.
He thought about the day when he had popped the question. He called it Signing Day because that’s what it was like –She was his five-star recruit. He had done his homework: She was nothing short of amazing. So he knew their relationship had potential. But as his coach used to say, “Potential is a little French word that means that you’re not worth a dam’ yet.” A promising recruit must work hard to become a successful athlete. The same went for their marriage. They really had to work at it. They didn’t want to be like so many recruits that just wash out. So many of their friends’ marriages had ended in failure. Not them. They had struggled together. And now they were about to enter the fourth quarter.
He looked again over at her. He didn’t know if others saw in her what he did, but he really didn’t care. What was on the outside didn’t matter. Sure, she was beautiful, but her heart was stunning. She had proved over and over that she had the will to win — she was tough. And like a blindside offensive lineman, she always had his back.
Her own snore woke her up, causing the dog to jump off the couch and flee. She looked around stunned and said, “Did I miss much?”
He looked at her with a smile, “Nope. We’re winning — the trophy is as good as ours.”
She smiled sleepily and started to fade back off to sleep. A light snore began to fill the room.
He looked at his wife’s beautiful face and was so thankful he had made the right choice on that Signing Day so many years ago.
Beautiful!